


Two for Two

by Hagar



Series: Project: Aftermath [9]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo
Genre: Alien Culture, Cultural Differences, Female Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-21
Updated: 2006-04-21
Packaged: 2017-10-02 16:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/pseuds/Hagar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy's life aren't the only aspect of his balancing between planets and traditions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two for Two

**Author's Note:**

> Story title suggested by Telepwen. Thanks, hon!
> 
> Loving gratitude to beta readers Roie, Camille and Mara.

He paused at the door. The floor of the dome stretched before him, wide and smooth. The filtered sunlight coming through the glass ceiling cast ghostlike flickers across the dark surface. The funeral dome was empty, save for the motionless figure lying on the stone pedestal in the center of it, and the woman in widow’s clothes sitting by the pedestal, one arm falling loosely by the side of her body, her other hand holding the pedestal’s edge and her forehead leaning against the back of that hand.

This funeral dome was one of the largest and oldest. Large enough for a crowd of several hundred, old enough that the walls hadn’t been perfectly polished when it was built. The floor, too, must have been somewhat rough when it was first built; since then it had been polished into smoothness by the feet of many thousands of mourners over the centuries. The man standing in the doorway had never attended a funeral here before: this dome was old and sacred, and it lay under the Eternal Falls. It was up to the Keeper to inform families that the funeral of the deceased may be held here. It was a rare honour.

His bare feet made little noise as he crossed the distance to the mourning woman, and paused at a respectable distance behind her. The sound of their breath – his even, hers somewhat labored – was the only sound in the dome for several moments, before he broke the silence.

“The sun has risen.”

She said nothing.

“It is time for calls to be made, if his funeral is to be held here today.”

She raised her head, and after a moment turned to him. His heart ached to see how the purple bulges on her forehead had lost most of their usually rich colour, the golden plate surrounding them had faded into a sickly hue. Their kind did not cry. “I would have you call those who would normally be notified. But not yet.”

“They will be awaiting the call,” he pointed out. Tradition demanded that the funeral be held before the sun set again.

“His family must be notified first.”

He didn’t understand. “You are his family.”

Her eyes held all her reproach. “He had a family before me.” Gracefully she rose to her feet, her clothes not rustling on the floor at all. “I will make them the offer… but the choice is theirs.”

Still he did not understand. “You are his chosen one.”

“Yes.” The word was barely more than a sigh. “Yet I am not the only one who has a claim on his life – or death.” She shook her head. “Hold the calls, if they come.”

“And should the callers ask for an explanation, what should I tell them?”

“Tell them… to prepare their starships.”

* * *

The call came at night, and at first she didn’t realize what it was that woke her up. When she recognized the sound, though, she got out of bed and padded to the corridor. She lit the small lamp by the comm. board, and touched the keyboard. The holographic flowers – so solid-looking that she was still tempted to touch them from time to time - winked out of the alcove, and another woman’s face appeared.

“Greetings, Trini.”

Trini’s heart missed a beat. Cestria _knew_ what time it was at Trini’s time zone. “Greetings, Cestria,” she answered.

Cestria hesitated, seemingly at an atypical loss for words. “Dawn has broken over the Eternal Falls,” she said finally. “I must inform you that…” Cestria’s voice broke.

In all their years of friendship, Trini had never heard Cestria’s voice break; the Aquitian had always been restrained to a fault, her true emotions only showing under extreme stress. Trini’s mind could only come up with one explanation for this atypical behaviour. “It’s Billy, isn’t it,” she whispered. “It’s finally happened.” She didn’t have to wait for Cestria to say anything – she could see it in her eyes, in the tightening of her lips. “Oh my god.”

“He passed in his sleep. I… was there to see it happen. It was as quiet a passing as any could wish for.”

Trini nodded slowly. Billy’s passing hadn’t exactly been expected, but it hadn’t come out of the blue, either. He and Cestria had visited Earth several time a year for the first twenty years or so, until Cestria´s health prevented her from traveling; Earth’s climate was harsh even for young Aquitians, and near deadly as they grew older. Billy continued to visit, though, and Trini tried to make it to Aquitar at least once a year. They maintained that routine for just over two more decades, but in the past couple of years Billy’s lungs began to trouble him, the cost of the constant travels finally showing; the frequency of his visits lessened. The dynamic genius rebelled against the medical verdict, and had taken to assessing his condition himself, but came up with the same results. He hadn’t been to Earth in over a year.

“By the tradition of my people, his funeral should be held before dusk today.”

Trini started thinking fast. “I have to call Tommy now – we’ll need transport - ”

“Trini.”

The human paused.

“I’m not sure if he should be buried here,” said Cestria softly. “It doesn’t seem quite…_right._”

“Oh, Cestria… you don’t have to.”

“But I want to. He loved Earth and he loved you all as family, Trini. For me to take him away in his death would be a shame to his life.”

“So would be burying him so far away from you.” Cestria wouldn’t be able to visit Billy’s grave, should he be buried on Earth.

Cestria spread her arms – a human gesture she had adopted over the years. “We cannot have him buried on both planets, can we?”

Trini hesitated. She had never asked Billy or Cestria about the Aquitian burial rituals, and now she deeply regretted it. “What if…” How would this suggestion come across to someone who was essentially amphibian? “We could cremate him,” suggested Trini, “and separate the ashes into two vases - if it’s okay with your traditions.”

Cestria hesitated, too. “We do not burn the dead on Aquitar,” she said finally, “but there are no objections to it that I can think of. Is it accepted in Earth culture?”

“In some.”

“Do you think Billy, and his blood family, would accept the cremation of his body?”

“I think so. I believe Billy’s mother was cremated, in her time.”

“Was she?” That seemed to take some of the load off of Cestria’s shoulders. “We need to make the arrangements, then.”

* * *

It was mostly a blur after that: calling Tommy first and asking him to arrange for a ship, driving to Jason’s house because she couldn’t bear to tell him over the comm., the three-hour ride to Aquitar and the long walk into the bowels of the island that felt like a walk into grief itself. Most of the ceremony was lost in the haze of grief too – too many speeches, too many rituals Trini did not understand the meaning of. Finally, though, Cestria had left with Billy’s body to oversee the cremation process; Jason accompanied her, representing Billy’s ‘family’, as Cestria insisted on referring to them. They had taken with them the two vases – Cestria’s coral-like vase, and the blue china vase Trini had brought.

Trini felt as though they’d been gone for hours, even though her watch told her otherwise. Finally, though, the crowd parted, revealing the two figures stepping from the entry of the dome to the center, where Trini and the others were waiting. Something was different – she knew that the moment she saw them, but wasn’t able to pinpoint _what_ until Jason and Cestria covered half the distance; and when Trini finally realized what it was she was seeing, it brought fresh tears to her eyes.

Two vases, two planets – that was what she and Cestria agree on; a vase for each of Billy’s homes. But Cestria was the one carrying the china vase, and Jason carrying the Aquitian vase. Trini didn’t realize that Cestria would switch the vases. _Yes_, she thought, accepting a fresh tissue from Kim. _Billy would’ve loved this._

* * *


End file.
